An upper-body ailment will sideline Charlie Lindgren for Washington on Wednesday evening.
John Walton of the Capitals reported that Lindgren did skate for a stretch of the club's morning session before the meeting with Toronto. Despite that, bench boss Spencer Carbery informed the Toronto-based media that his goaltender wasn't healthy enough for action, which leaves Mitch Gibson backing up Logan Thompson for the evening's contest.
Speaking with reporters, Carbery labeled it a day-to-day matter stemming from trouble in the upper body.
Sunday saw Lindgren handle all 60 minutes of an 8-1 setback to the Rangers in New York, yet he sat out the Tuesday workout, which led the organization to recall Gibson from the minors later that day.
Gibson, while he has occupied an NHL backup slot before, still hasn't appeared in a Washington uniform. February saw the 26-year-old sign a two-year, two-way pact with the franchise. Down at the AHL level this year with Hershey, his line reads 9-8-3, with goals-against sitting at 2.79, a save mark of .907, plus one clean sheet.
This will be the first Thompson outing since a 37-stop performance that downed Buffalo last Saturday. Facing Toronto throughout his career, Thompson owns a record of 5-1-1, goals-against of 2.34, a save figure of .916, and a single clean sheet.
Anticipated Washington lineup for the 4/8 matchup with Toronto
Forward lines, listed by wing and center:
- Line 1 — LW Ovechkin, C Strome, RW Beauvillier
- Line 2 — LW A. Protas, C I. Protas, RW Wilson
- Line 3 — LW McMichael, C Dubois, RW Leonard
- Line 4 — LW Duhaime, C Sourdif, RW Miroshnichenko
Blue line, by pairing:
- Pair 1 — LD Fehervary, RD Sandin
- Pair 2 — LD Chychrun, RD TVR
- Pair 3 — LD Hutson, RD Roy
Crease:
- Starter — Thompson
- Reserve — Gibson